Food for Thought

During my lunch walkabout today, I found an interesting shop just across Chinatown Complex called S'ban Siew Pow.

As I walked past the shop, the thing that stopped me in my tracks was the sight of nicely-browned Portuguese tarts being displayed inside the glass shelves.

Seeing that it was only $1 per piece, I couldn't resist buying a few for my colleagues as well.

Verdict - Good - the fillings were not too sweet and the crust was crunchy. Better than the "branded" ones being sold at the nearby Pearl Centre.

Here's the address: 68 Smith Street.

Of men and women

I nearly bought myself the Rockband drum set and a XBOX driving wheel yesterday at the X08 event at Suntec yesterday.

If not for my good wife, I would have nearly blown $400+ on these two devices of entertainment (and probably gotten hours of fun in return).

I wondered why such electronics had to cost so much - it's quite known that wafer fabrication, the fundamental ingredients of electronic equipment have super-high profit margins of close to 1000% (which was probably why Singapore embarked on its development on a national scale in it).

Then I realised it's because electronics are viewed by men the way that fine apparel and bags are by women - Objects Of Desire that make the heart race, resulting in an endorphin-producing rush when cards are swiped at the point of purchase.

But because men don't spend in the same frequency like women do (maybe once a week on clothes or once a month on bags), economics dictate that prices would be higher given that men buy fewer items over a specific period than women (How many shoes and bags do you see men own at a particular moment in time - one, two? How many of the menfolk actually buy shoes or wallets to match their clothes?).

When women buy a $165 at 15% discount, they claim a savings of $25 but when men get the same discount eg. $25 off the list price of an XBOX driving wheel, why is the cost of the item ie. $140 considered instead?

Something to ponder about, eh?

Pleasure And Pain (PAP)

In light of the latest developments of the unfolding financial crisis, I'd been thinking what drives people to behave the way they do.

Anthony Robbins, the famed motivational speaker (I wonder what happened to him now) wrote in his books that man had two primary motives:

Pleasure ("the pursuit of pleasure") - something that a person would find enjoyable, eg. sex, eating, napping, dreaming , having lots of money etc

Pain ("the avoidance of pain") - something that a person would not want to do and doesn't find enjoyment in eg. exercising, dieting, working, not having enough money etc.

I used to think these two emotions (sometimes displayed as greed and fear, displayed during the Lehman fiasco) had been the only motivational forces in people but it dawned on me last Sunday during my church's sermon that pleasure and pain are subjective to the person concerned.

For example, I know of a colleague who seems to live to run marathons, thriving on the out-of-body experience attained during such events. To me, it was unthinkable to find pleasure there.

But as the old adage goes, "one man's meat is another man's poison", so I thought there might be something more than just pleasure and pain. And I realised what it was last Sunday.

If you consider a Muslim extremist or Israeli terrorist (when Israel was not yet a sovereign country) and try to use the pleasure-pain concept, it'd be hard to explain as death would have been the ultimate "pain" that one can never recover from. What "pleasure" that can be derived from this ultimate sacrifice would have been rendered irrelevant. So, how does one reconcile this?

Conviction would be the likely reason.

Convicted of a "greater good", even it meant paying the ultimate price and "pain" - death.

History has shown many such examples. From firemen who died so others may live to the radicals who "sacrificed" themselves, with hopes of creating a "better world" or elimination of "infidels". No better exemplification could be shown by Jesus who bore the sins of the world on the cross, knowing that the greatest pain that He would have to endure was the separation from His Father. But He still did it, because of people like us.

For average Singaporeans like us, we have also been "convicted" that we need to "painfully" set aside 20% of our salary now so that we would be able to provide ourselves with a "pleasurable" retirement (hopefully not an outmoded concept in 30 years when it's my turn) lifestyle in the future.

So, what have you been seeking in life?

Pleasure or Pain?

Mini Notes that are not so Jubilant now

I'd been reading blogs that rant about the numerous people, particularly the man-on-the-street who'd been allegedly "cheated" by the conniving and scheming financial advisers, relationship managers and sometimes even counter tellers that sold high-risk financial products to housewives, old grandmothers who'd been "robbed" of their life savings.

One of the more prominent bloggers writing, ex-Income chief Tan Kin Lian had espoused reporting these cases as fraud to the Commercial Affairs Dept instead of just complaining online so that it can be acted upon.

Will CAD act? MAS has already adopted a "buyer beware", and it'll probably stay that way if there's no undue external pressures to change their position.

Singaporeans have generally been a molly-coddled lot - complaining to the government about this and that; isn't it about time we took responsibility for our own actions?

Have we been too trusting? Was Grandma cheated by the tellers or did Grandma sign because she heard she could get an additional $50 worth of 'interest'?

When do we start thinking for ourselves?

" If you think the road is not safe, then don't cross;
If you need to cross, look for the traffic light;
If you can't find one, ask for help to cross;
If you trust the help, you can decide to cross;
If the help you get is screwed, who do you blame? "